There is a real physiological link between your dog’s health and their behaviour.
Some health issues may be obvious, say a cut that looks infected and the dog consequently is in pain and hence reactive to you or other dogs.
Other health issues may have been more long term and only now coming to have an impact on how the dog feels & reacts (e.g. an intestinal problem that has been there but flared up).
Your dog may be on long term medication which has caused consequential side effects and impacted how the dog feels and behaves.
The Impact of ill health on a dog’s behaviour
As with humans a dog that is not feeling well (e.g. tired, lethargic, nauseous, sharp pain, dull ache, confused) will more likely than not react & behave differently to the way you have come to know them.
On that basis alone establishing or eliminating health issues is a key early step to understanding a behavior problem or sudden change in behaviour.
Working with your vet
I personally believe that dealing with any of your dogs problems, both physiological or psychological, requires a holistic approach to ensure that you get to the heart of the problem and can find some solutions that will help for the long term,
Early on in a behavioral assessment I always ask the guardian if they have seen or spoken to the vet or even when the dog last had a check up. I would want to know any historic or ongoing health issues.
It is also possible that future solutions & management will require vet and dog behaviorist help and on that basis working together with you as a team is really important.
Stress
Another key health-behaviour link is the external stimulus of stress.
Your dog’s ability to cope with stress, their individual triggers to stress, will have an actual physical and behavioural impact on them.
When a dog cannot cope & tolerate stress there comes a point, their stress threshold, where it can affect their physical well being, and when this happens your dog’s body will go into hyper alert mode and divert energy & nutrients from its digestive and immune systems.
Long term and regular stress will have an impact on their physical health as they will not be digesting enough nutrients and their immune system will become overworked and run down…causing a greater likelihood of disease in a stressed dog.
Any dog that has reached the point where it cannot cope with its perceived stresses for a period of time will exhibit behavior change, anywhere from a pee in the home to aggression with their guardians.
Conclusions
When you notice a change in your dog’s behaviour that concerns you firstly don’t ignore it.
What they are feeling on the inside will manifest itself on the outside.
I would recommend that the steps to follow are:
- Take them for a vet check up to see if there is a medical reason for the behavior change
- Try and observe what seems to be triggering the behaviour, when it occurs and what kicks it off
- Have an initial chat with a dog behaviourist. Make sure they do not offer solutions without good understanding & observation of your dog, and they only use force-free positive methods
I know what it’s like when you see a behaviour change in your dog and you know they are scared, unhappy or uncharacteristically aggressive.
But feel confident that by working with your vet and a good dog behaviourist you can break down the causes and make a plan to help them through any problems.
Finally please be open minded, every dog is an individual and what may have worked with one dog will not always work with another.
If you would like to discuss any behavioural changes or issues you have with your dog I’d be happy to have a chat to understand the problems better.
